The Artillery Club congratulates the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Irish Mission at the UN under the leadership of Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason, with Colonel Ray York (Artillery Corps) as the Military Advisor, on Ireland’s successful campaign for an elected seat on the Security Council for the 2021 – 2022 term.
Bringing empathy, independence, and partnership, and with an independent voice and a commitment to peace building and peacekeeping, Ireland will be a champion of multilateralism and international peace.
Beir Bua
The successful election is not only the culmination of a three-year inspiring campaign, which included significant support from the Defence Forces, but decades of steadfast commitment to safeguarding the UN Charter and strengthening international peace and security.
The Defence Forces has the longest unbroken record of overseas service with the UN of any country in the world, since first deploying to a UN mission in 1958, with 70,000 individual tours of duty on peacekeeping, peace enforcement, crisis management, and humanitarian operations.
Today, 595 Defence Forces personnel are serving overseas, including the 115 Infantry Battalion with UNIFIL in Lebanon, and the 61 Infantry Group with UNDOF on the Golan Heights. Brigadier-General Maureen O’Brien is UNDOF’s Acting Force Commander.
